Security News > 2023 > May > New York county still dealing with ransomware eight months after attack

Security in brief The fallout from an eight-month-old cyber attack on a county in Long Island, New York has devolved into mud-slinging as leaders try to figure out just what is going on.

Suffolk County was hit with a ransomware attack in early September 2022, which led county executive Steve Bellone to issue nine separate emergency declarations, Long Island publication Newsday said - the most recent of which was enacted earlier this month.

Bellone's detractors don't believe the state of emergency needs to continue and county legislators have introduced a resolution to terminate the continued declarations.

A spokesperson for the county told Newsday that the continued state of emergency was necessary "Because certain functions, including remote public document searches, remain offline and require a complete overhaul due to the fact that the former clerk IT administrator failed to update these systems in decades."

Schlusser disagrees, and claims he alerted Bellone's IT team to potential intrusions months before the ransomware attack, as well as an FBI warning that there was an active ransomware campaign being waged against the county shortly before the attack was discovered.

The ransomware incident has cost Suffolk County $5.4 million for investigation and restoration, and $12 million for new hardware and software.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/29/security_in_brief/